


365

by ASCII_48



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2020-08-13 17:57:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20178397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASCII_48/pseuds/ASCII_48
Summary: Y/N has had a pretty damn boring time at Karasuno so far. The clubs never change, the classes feel all the same and most of her friends have moved schools.That is until she finds a small book with the words, A Sentence A Day sprawled in pink across the top of the cover.From the second she flicked open the book, the universe had set in motion plans to rapidly change her boring life and begin a new arc, a chaotic journey alongside Karasuno’s volleyball team.(Updated sporadically, this was heavily inspired by a Wreck This Journal Fanfic.)





	1. The Bookstore

The book was speckled with multicolored dots flattened on a cream background. The words, A Sentence A Day were sprawled in pink across the top of the cover in a neat Arial font. Cute was the only way to describe it. Flicking through the pages, Y/N found it contained numerous prompts, each dedicated to a specific day of the year. _‘That’s so cool! It’s like a journal but a weird journal!’ _

Unfortunately for her, the book came with a price. _‘1087 yen? What the hell?’_ Y/N recoiled at the thought of her somewhat plump wallet being emptied. _‘Since when were books so damn expensive?’_ She let out a lengthy sigh and sat the book back on the shelf. Maybe there was something more friendly towards her wallet, after all, her pocket money was her only income at the moment.

But it was hard to part from the book. The sleek spine sat comfortably in her soft hands, the pages slid smoothly beneath her fingers when she carefully turned them and overall, the book omitted an alluring aura, drawing Y/N closer like a magnet. The book was so damn cute, it felt like it was made just for her. _‘Could stealing it work?’_ She clicked her tongue, _‘No… I’d feel too guilty afterwards. Maybe if it accidentally landed inside my shirt…?’_

Only then she realised that she was seriously thinking of committing a crime, _‘What am I doing?! It’s only a book. A cute book… a really cute book…’ _ Forcibly jerking herself away from the shelves to release the book’s attractive spell, she stumbled back into a stand of cards, spraying cards all over the wooden floor. Her heart picked up the pace seeing the sight, blood was pounding like a drum through her ears. She yelped in panic which in turn alerted the young cashier at the front. Without missing a beat, she snatched the chosen book from the shelf, knocking some other irrelevant books down in the process. 

Olympic sprinters would’ve never been as fast as Y/N was getting to the counter. As she slammed the book down, the poor cashier’s mind was now torn between serving the distressed H/C-haired girl or cleaning the mess. “I-I want this one!” Her unexpectedly authoritative voice made him visibly flinch. 

“S-sure thing! I’ll put it through right away.” The delicate cream book was pushed into his hands and was swiftly scanned. Y/N tried to avoid looking at the small numbers about to pop up on the little display screen but she knew she’d have to face the outcome of buying the book. “That’ll be 1087 yen.”.

Out of her black wallet emerged a single note and a few unpolished coins and landed softly in the cashier’s hand. _‘Goodbye, my loves.’_ Y/N internally cried as the remains of her pocket money were being locked away in the cash register. 

However, the cashier slid a small brown paper bag over the counter, eagerly wanting to clean up the mess to avoid harassment from his boss. “Enjoy the book!” He concluded before scurrying away. 

Y/N’s E/C orbs followed his figure until he had left her view. She then turned her attention to the small package in her hands before allowing a giant smile to erupt on her features. Tucked safely under her arm, she skipped out of the store onto the street. “Haha! You’re mine now~” Discarding the brown bag in a nearby bin, she eagerly flipped through the book to the current date. 

The words from the prompt stared up at her and whipping out a pen from her breast pocket, she tapped it against her cheek. “Hmm… how to start it…?” She mumbled incoherent words while strolling along the sidewalk, pedestrians casting annoyed looks when she bumped their shoulders, to which she didn’t notice nor care. Unfortunately, she didn’t see the dark figure standing in the middle of her pathway. When the two inevitably made contact, Y/N’s new book flew out of her grip and right on to the side of the road and her pen clattered onto the concrete. The figure turned around, mostly likely to apologise but Y/N’s instincts instantly kicked in and forced her to retrieve the book.

She darted over to the face-down book while ignoring the warning shouts from behind her. As she crouched down to pick up her slightly ragged book, she also didn’t take notice of the incoming horns from behind her. It was only a matter of time the truck would collide with Y/N’s back and she would be crush-

It was truly a miracle when the hand reached out and firmly gripped her wrist, pulling her back onto the footpath and into the safety of a broad chest. Y/N stuttered out, “W-what’s going on-”

She was spun around, a pair of hands holding her arms to her sides tightly, and was met with a pair of strikingly blue eyes glaring at her angrily. “Idiot! Dumbass! Didn’t you see that truc-” He immediately stopped noticing the fragile girl’s stunned expression and he immediately paled. Y/N stared up at him, mouth open and hand tightly gripping the book, so tight that her knuckles were turning white.

“I- uh- Thank.. You?”. The boy standing over Y/N was far taller than her. His black hair cast an intimidating shadow over his aqua eyes but Y/N found it rather cute. Y/N also noticed that he had strangely attractive features - something surprising for someone who had an ominous aura surrounding them. 

The blue-eyed boy huffed and turned his face, trying to hide the pink dusting his cheeks. “It’s whatever. Watch where you’re going idiot.” He pushed his hands into his black jacket’s pockets and stalked off. The bystanders who noticed the incident shook their heads in annoyance and promptly moved on with their day. 

However, Y/N couldn’t take her eyes off the retreating dark-haired boy, _‘He’s so cool…’_, she privately thought to herself, admiring his impressive stature. Remembering her prompt, she picked up the pen from the concrete and scribbled a response. Satisfied, she popped the cap back on and flipped the book shut. As she tucked it under her arm again, she began to make her way down the road to follow the blue-eyed boy’s route.

_Prompt: What word best describes your day?_

_Well, considering I was almost hit by a truck, I’d say it was pretty hectic. However, I did meet this really cute guy… maybe this day was more of an opportunity than anything else._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guess whose back posting at 2am again. I'm doing this to release my shorter bursts of writing fuel before working on the other fic. This fic isn't going to follow every prompt, just a few that I found particularly interesting, I don't know how long it'll go on for, I guess until I run out of prompts or motivation for this?
> 
> Also I took down the BNHA fanfic because even I found it extremely cringy.
> 
> Okay goodnight lovelies~


	2. The Restaurant

With a great sigh, Y/N collapsed onto her bed face first. For starters, she’d lost the boy in the bustling crowds. How did he manage to walk so fast? Would she ever see those charming blue eyes and mysterious dark hair ever again? 

_ ‘Probably not…’ _she internally groaned and rolled onto her side while pulling out her phone. No notifications, not even one since that morning. Geez, all her messages to her so called ‘friends’ seemed to be a lost cause. Tossing the phone aside, she began to stare at her pillow. Today had been a bit of a waste, instead of doing something with her family, she was chasing down a boy who she’d probably never see again. Was the outcome worth it? No, not really. Still, it was something to do instead of sitting in her room for the afternoon. _ ‘C’est la vie.’ _ She thought as she picked herself up off the bed and hauled herself downstairs.

Down the tiny hinoki stairs lay an open space filled with tables and chairs. This was known as the L/N family’s restaurant. Supposedly, Y/N’s great, great, great (was there another ‘great’? Y/N could never remember) grandfather bought the restaurant after the previous owners had mysteriously disappeared, leaving nothing behind. The restaurant itself wasn’t very big, around the size of an average Japanese classroom. Yet it was usually full to the brim with people in the evenings. Around the edges sat multiple wooden chairs and tables while to the far left tucked away was the kitchen. As Y/N wandered over, the smell of fried oil hit her abruptly. 

A middle-aged man gleefully tossed something over in the flaming frying pan. The man himself was quite tall yet had a bit of a bulge where his stomach sat, a “beer-belly”. Despite his physical appearance, he was always seen with an inviting smile and carried himself around the kitchen with confidence. Today had been quite an easy-going day for him, he felt light on his feet and managed to swiftly serve customers their food. When he had last checked the clock, it was almost closing time! So when the call bell was hit repeatedly, he visibly jumped and almost dropped the pan. He turned to see his daughter, chin on the counter and boring her eyes into his. “What a surprise! The princess has finally left her room.” Wiping his hands with a towel, he placed the pan down and leaned over to Y/N.

“Dad, have you got any food I can eat?” 

The man laughed, a deep but hearty sound that came from the stomach. “Y/N my dear, we run a restaurant!”

Y/N rolled her eyes, _ ‘Well duh, I’m not exactly blind.’ _she wanted to reply but bit her tongue. “I know that, can I have whatever you’re cooking?” She sniffed the tantalising scent, “I don’t care what it is, I just want food.”.

Her dad had already began piling the fried lotus roots onto a small plate. “I was gonna have these but you are still a growing girl.” He placed it neatly in front of her but not before snagging one for himself. Y/N dug in, listening to the satisfying crunching noise the roots made between her teeth. 

She was about to bite into her third root when the door slid open and alerted the small bell above. In stepped a group of boys around her age, except one of them was so short he looked like a middle schooler. Each of them adorned a jet black jacket, the signature colour of Y/N’s school. While the group talked amongst each other, Y/N’s eyes carefully examined each boy, her eyes lingering on the boy with a shaved head (Y/N was surprised at how rowdy he was for someone who looked like a monk). Finally, bickering to the side was the middle schooler and his friend who had amazingly dark hair… and strikingly blue… eyes… wait-

Y/N dropped the root on her plate as the group took their seats. “What the hell? It can’t be...”. 

Before she could come up with wild theories on whether it was the same boy as yesterday or just a clone, she was met with a pile of menus eagerly shoved in her face. “Y/N, could you go hand out these menus?” Her father plopped them down, swiping the plate from underneath with godlike speed and began washing it. 

Y/N knew that if it was the same boy, he’d definitely recognise her. Should she make conversation with him? Would that be too awkward? She couldn’t decide whether his presence was a good thing or not. “Dad, can’t I get Mai-chan to do it?”

Her dad turned around, looking at her quizzically. “Mai-san’s busy out the back. Is something wrong Y/N?”

Well, Y/N hadn’t told her parents of yesterday’s events and she planned to keep it that way. She poked the menus slightly away from her. “It's just… I’ve got a fair bit of homework to do.” She started pushing back her chair, readying her legs to sprint away, “And that’s why I’ve got to-” 

As if on cue, an electric shock shot through Y/N’s spine, forcing her to look behind her. The man she knew as her ‘dad’ seemed far more… terrifying? Horrifying? Absolutely, one-hundred percent, petrifying? No, in the moment words couldn’t describe the deathly aura he exuded. “Y/N, the longer you drag this out, the longer our customers wait.” A hand came crashing down on the wooden counter causing Y/N to flinch and drawing the customers attention. “Do you really want our guests to wait any longer?” 

A silent moment of understanding passed between the two and without hesitation, Y/N slipped out of the chair, clutching onto the menus. As her slippers slid against the wooden floorboards, she was brought back to the present moment. The boy, yesterday’s incident… oh no. _ ‘Dear God, please spare me the embarrassment and let it be a clone.’ _ She hovered next to the table, the occupants seemingly so engrossed in conversation they hadn’t noticed the shaky girl. As she laid down the menus in front of each person, she purposely avoided eye contact with each boy. 

Except for the boy on the very end of the table. For a split second she looked up straight into a pair of strikingly blue eyes. 

“Y-you!” The table violently shook as the boy arose from his chair, jabbing a finger at Y/N. His friend yelped as a cup fell to its side. 

Y/N recoiled, holding the menu to cover half of her blushing face. “Me!”.

The boys inbetween moved their heads back and forth in a confused manner, like those clown games found in carnivals. One of them, the mature black-haired boy, turned to his blue-eyed companion and said, “Kageyama, do you know this person?”

“Well I-”

He was cut off by the middle schooler, a very energetic boy with bright orange hair. “Kageyama! I didn’t know you had a girlfriend!”

Luckily while the two bickered, nobody noticed the growing blush creeping across Y/N’s cheeks. _ ‘WAITIMNOTHISGIRLFRIENDDIDHESAYIWASHISGIRLFRIENDTHISCAN’TBEHAPPENING.’_

The menu landed in front of ‘Kageyama’ with a loud clutter and Y/N proceeded to storm off in a hurry. The group’s eyes watched her quickly disappear behind a wall, faintly they could hear her climbing up the stairs. 

Immediately after they got stuck into the middle schooler, warning him that he should've just kept his mouth shut.

Y/N trudged up the stairs back to her room. _ ‘Yeah, that went about as well as I predicted.’ _ Miserably, she walked through the entrance to her room and shut the door. _‘These things wouldn’t have happened if I had stayed in my room.’._ As she slumped down in her chair, she took notice of her small book glaring up at her. She flicked to the most recent page and pulled out a pen from her pencil case. 

However, she couldn’t begin writing as the prompt had barred her hand from moving.

A loud knock at the door interrupted her writing session. She looked up, “Come in!”

A pair of black flats appeared in the doorway, Y/N instantly realised who it was. “Y/N-chan, good evening.”. The knee length, black skirt crinkled as the woman bowed. 

“Mai-chan, welcome back!” Y/N pounced on the woman, her fingers gripping the dress’s black material. “It’s been too long!”

Mai smiled, “Yes, I’m still quite tired from the trip but I just really wanted to check on the restaurant.” Gently pulling Y/N’s hand toward her, she placed a small object in the palm of her hand. “I know your father doesn’t like me giving you presents all the time, but I saw this and thought of you.” 

As she removed her hands, Y/N was greeted with a small gleaming pin shaped as a beetle. The beetle’s body was a mixture of stunning yellows and luminous greens yet the most prominent feature was the tiny ruby sitting on its head. 

Mai traced her fingers along the grooves in the beetle’s wings, “Isn’t it lovely? It's a Christmas Beetle and supposedly they’re very common in Australia. Although, I didn’t get to see any around Sydney. Maybe next time.”

Y/N raised it closer to her eyes, taking in its changing green colours. “Ah, it’s so pretty!” She looked up and met Mai’s smiling brown eyes, “I totally thought Australia was all kangaroos and bush.” Y/N turned to place it on her shelf of other trinkets Mai had brought her. Pushing aside a small sculpture of the Statue of Liberty, she delicately put it down on top of a small bamboo box (a gift she received when Mai returned from China). 

The call of Mai’s name made her turn toward the kitchen. “The dining room is getting busy, let’s talk later Y/N.” She began to make her way down when she suddenly halted, almost tripping over herself. “Oh yes!” She placed a palm on her forehead, “There were some customers downstairs that were asking for you.”

Y/N paled, oh yeah, she almost forgot about the previous incident.

Almost.

The rest of Mai’s words dissolved into the background noise, she couldn’t muster a goodbye even when Mai rushed back downstairs. Should she go down? Should she just wait it out? What the hell is she supposed to do?! Y/N collapsed down onto the floor, _‘Why can’t they just leave?!’ _She tugged at a H/C lock of hair, _‘Why do I have to deal with this crap?’_

As she lay there, she processed different ideas to avoid her new dilemma. Eventually, she came to a realisation,_ ‘How about… I don’t go down at all?’ _ She sat up, _ ‘Yes! It’s so simple! I’ll just stay here until closing time!’ _ . She felt a smile etching itself onto her visage. 

She hurried back to her desk, eager to write down her thoughts. Then, she grabbed her pen and began to write.

Once she had finished writing, she tossed the book and pen aside and turned back to studying her collection of trinkets, satisfied with her day.

_ Prompt: What made you smile today?_

_It sounds kinda narcissistic but I made myself smile? I think it’s just the fact that I had a really brilliant idea just now. Good job me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I’m not entirely happy with this chapter but I haven’t published in so long I really just wanted to push this out and work on the other story.
> 
> Anyway, this monstrosity took so long because I’ve been juggling assignments and packing because I’m currently in London (and soon to be in Paris)!
> 
> Okay thanks for reading ily guys


	3. The New Friend

Y/N neatly folded the note and pushed it into her pocket. Evening light shone through the large glass windows causing the restaurant to be bathed in an orange glow. It had been around two hours since the group of boys left (and since Y/N had left her room), much to Y/N’s dismay, they had stayed right until the restaurant’s closing time. 

Now, Y/N was hurriedly wiping down the remaining tables alongside a brown-haired boy. He’d come in after the group left, dressed in a white and turquoise tracksuit with his sports bag slung over his shoulder. Oh yes, it was Oikawa Tooru. The supposed “heartthrob” of Aoba Johsai (at least, that’s what he told Y/N but she didn’t believe him) met Y/N in their first year. It wasn’t in person though, they hadn’t even seen each other in person until half-way through their second year. It was through - of all things - _ an alien discussion forum. _ Y/N wasn’t even really a “believer” at that point in time, it was just chance that at 1 am she stumbled into a lone chatroom and met _“Xx_ALI3NBOY_xX”_.

It started with a polite discussion about their interests and personalities (back then, Oikawa pretended to act civilised) but they would never discuss anything that occurred beyond the screen. That was until one particularly stressful day, both Y/N and Oikawa had found comfort in ranting to each other about friends, tests and the overarching stress of high school. Things only picked up from there. They began chatting almost daily, whether it be about regular school life or having multiple existential crises together, their conversations were… _out of this world_. Luckily for both of them, Oikawa lived relatively close to Y/N. So, wanting to surprise his online friend, he confidently strolled into the L/N family’s restaurant one day, introduced himself to everyone in the vicinity and made awkward conversation with a stunned Y/N. 

After multiple visits (and far more cringe-worthy moments), the two gradually became more comfortable with one another. And now, everything had led up to this moment, he was sitting at one of the many wooden tables whining about the Karasuno volleyball team while Y/N began stacking chairs. 

“I can’t believe they dared to write a note!” He waved his fists around wildly, “Don’t they have the common sense to leave you alone or at least apologize in person?!” 

Maybe it was a bad idea to show him the apology note that the group of boys left. Anything to do with rival teams in volleyball always stirred him up. He knew that Y/N attended Karasuno, so she tried to avoid talking about volleyball (or sports in general) altogether. He’d told her in the past about his “distaste” (that’s actually how he phrased it) for a certain underclassman of his, however, she didn’t realise that he’d flip out this badly. “Oikawa-kun, it was an awkward situation for everyone and I’m gonna have to see them again eventually.” 

Oikawa slumped over onto the table, “Of course you had to bump into Tobio-chan of all people…” 

Y/N was impressed that he could deduce Kageyama from her vague description. When she told him that the “blue-eyed boy” was apart of a group of other boys wearing black jackets, Oikawa instantly snapped. “Why, are you keeping tabs on him? You seemed to know immediately who I was talking about.” 

That made Oikawa visibly retch, “Ew! Like I care about him and his little group.” Pushing back his chair, he slung his bag over his shoulder and helped Y/N stack another chair. He paused for a moment, resting his hands on the metal legs of the wooden chair, “But, I suppose it’s important to keep tabs on your rivals.”.

He said this with a strange look on his face but Y/N knew not to question it. Oikawa had always been a bit all over the place regarding his different moods. Their conversations often started lighthearted but eventually turned into something more personal for either one of them. Plus, it wasn’t uncommon for him to shift between five wildly different emotions in the span of ten minutes. It made him interesting to Y/N, he wasn’t someone who just anyone could handle. Though sometimes, she thought that he found her boring. She often found herself wishing that her personality was more exuberant so she could match his mood-swings. 

He levelled his face with hers, “Y/N-chan, promise me you won’t associate yourself with Tobio’s clique.” His voice was oddly low. 

Y/N laughed, “You make it sound like he’s dangerous.”. Her laughter only made Oikawa pout, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry. I won’t start drama with him.” 

A warmth filled his shoulder and spread outwards along his chest. This feeling was foreign to him, it only happened around Y/N and he could never quite describe it. When he tried to explain it to Iwaizumi, he would end up blabbering something incomprehensible (and then Iwaizumi would ignore him for wasting his time). However, Oikawa wasn’t totally clueless. He did have an inkling as to what this warmth could be… but he could be overthinking it as always… right? 

He ruffled Y/N’s hair and bid his goodbyes to her family. Stepping outside into the dark neighbourhood, he began making his way to the bus stop. His mind was in shambles, still trying to comprehend Kageyama’s existence, Y/N’s near-death experience and the fact that the two of them met. 

He buried his hands in his chocolate locks. Maybe he’ll go for a jog once he gets home.

———

Y/N chewed on her toast until it was wet mush in her mouth. It was a cold Monday morning and she’d just arrived at the school gates. 

There was nothing particularly interesting about Y/N’s journey to school. She’s noted almost everything to be noted, there was a sketchy alleyway past the grocery store, the pavement in front of the flower shop had a crack shaped like South America and recently, her neighbours had thrown out an antique chair. In a sense, it sounds like she’s a stalker but she did notice these mundane things!

The H/C-haired girl stepped through the gates and headed towards the shoe lockers. There was a certain sense of unease lingering around her today. Nothing looked out of the ordinary at first glance but she felt that any second, something was about to go wron-

“Bakeyama! There’s that girl you embarrassed the other day!” 

Well, this sucks. Y/N turned away from where the shout came from, she could already picture the stupid blue eyes fixed on her figure. It wasn’t that she disliked the poor boy but she certainly didn’t want to revisit the memories from yesterday. She willed her eyes to look straight ahead and pretend they didn’t exist. 

Unsurprisingly, the overly cheerful voice still forced its way over to Y/N, even if she desperately tried not to hear it. “Is she the loner Tanaka-senpai was talking about?”

Instantly her S/C cheeks painted themselves in a deep maroon. Is that really how other people perceive her? Y/N took in a shaky breath, she could feel the embarrassment seeping into her muscles. She’d tried to keep a low profile ever since the beginning of her third year, and wanted to finish the rest of high school quietly. It was _sort of_ her fault that she couldn’t bring herself to meet new people, but what did it matter when she wouldn’t see any of her classmates ever again? 

She couldn’t hear what the duo was bickering about over the blood pounding in her ears. People passing by were beginning to stare at the frozen girl although her entire body was boiling. 

Summoning up her diminishing strength, Y/N lifted her head and took off running, she faintly made out a third, motherly voice snapping, “Look, you’ve embarrassed her.”. What a crap start to her day, school hadn’t even started and already she’d had an accidental run-in with the same group of boys. Plus they also called her a loner. 

The word loner echoed around in her mind as her legs took control of her body. With every echo, she willed the ground to open up and swallow her. That was until she almost tripped over a small wooden bench behind the school. Faint laughter from the running track trailed on the breeze and a surge of nostalgia washed over her. She allowed herself to pull her knees up close to her chest on the cold bench, of course her legs carried her to this specific spot. 

She traced the carved drawings on the armrest with her finger, _‘Ah, my terrible (favourite cartoon/tv show/anime idk) drawings. I can’t believe they’re still here…’._ Feeling the ridges under her fingers felt almost hypnotic, like she could sink back into the bench and it would transport her to a better place. 

The wooden slats shifted and softly creaked as they took on more weight. Y/N pulled herself out of her self-inflicted hypnotism, the blood in her ears began to pound inside her head again. Y/N knew that this spot was hard to find in the whole school since barely anyone ever came there, so does that mean the person sitting next to her had followed her? 

“Hey, it’s L/N Y/N right?”

For a second, she choked on her saliva. She didn’t expect the stranger to start the conversation or even know her name. “U-um, yep! That’s me.” 

A pair of friendly hazel-brown eyes shaded by silver hair locked with her own. When looking at his face (which Y/N could barely bring herself to do), the only thing she could focus on was the tiny black dot placed on his cheek. The warmth the boy’s demeanour radiated made Y/N shy away, he had both his legs crossed on the bench but his entire attention was completely directed to her. Y/N found herself taken aback at how good looking he was but she was also left wondering _why_ a cute boy decided to sit down and make conversation with her. 

He must’ve noticed her bewildered staring as he carefully rested his cheek in the palm of his hand. “So uhm,” the hazel orbs settled themselves on a place over her shoulder, “I saw what happened this morning…with the loner thing and all…” An invisible arrow pierced itself through Y/N’s heart. Ouch, so even this cute boy knew how much of a hermit Y/N is. “I-I just wanted to apologise on behalf of those two idiots.”

Y/N’s cheeks flared up and the silver-haired boy quickly looked at the ground. To an outsider, the situation would’ve been interpreted very differently.

The silence was soon broken with Y/N’s stuttered replies of “it’s okay!” and “don’t worry, it was nothing!”. Amidst this, the silver-haired boy took a deep breath and extended his hand toward Y/N. Her rambling came to a halt while she examined it curiously. 

After about a minute of awkward staring, with a huff, he grabbed her smaller hand and gave it a solid handshake. “Eh!? What was that?”

Ignoring her question, he stated, “I’m Sugawara Koushi, a third-year. It’s nice to meet you Y/N-san.”

What? _ ‘Y/N-san’_ felt like she was looking through another person’s eyes. The situation felt so surreal, like something out of a terrible fanfic. “W-wait, where are you going with this?”

Sugawara’s head slightly tilted, as if the answer was obvious. “Well, if I’m being truthful, I’m trying to be your friend. I mean, you weren’t particularly happy about being called a loner.” Y/N’s mouth must’ve dropped open as he had to stifle a laugh, “Why do you look so shocked?”

Y/N blinked a few times to make sure that she wasn’t in one of her daydreams. “Well, it’s just… ah…” Her fingers found its way to the bench’s carvings again, “I used to come here with my friends. I didn’t expect that I’d meet someone so nice in the same place.” 

Sugawara’s smile widened at her compliment. He turned his gaze towards the track field, “Tell me about yourself. What are your interests?”

Y/N tensed up. That was probably the worst possible thing he could’ve said. However, she couldn’t dwell on it for too long as he was already firing questions at her, “Do you like any art subjects?”

She fiddled with her jacket, “No, I’m not very good at them…”

Sugawara nodded understandingly, “How about music? Do you play any instruments?”

“I’ve never really had an interest in instruments...”

“How about sports?”

“Haha, you wish.”

If Y/N wasn’t watching his face carefully, she wouldn’t have noticed how his smile quickly fell at her response. In no time at all, the comforting grin returned but it left Y/N with an odd feeling. “You’ve got to be interested in something. What do you plan to do after high school?”

A sliver of excitement replaced the feeling. “Well, I’d like to go travelling around the world.” Sugawara’s eyes lit up at this, nodding his head as a signal to go on. “A-and I’m doing pretty good in my foreign language classes, so I’d love to practice my language skills!” 

From there, Y/N dragged Sugawara down a rabbit hole of her future endeavours. She could recite facts from almost any country Sugawara tested her on, he quizzed her on her English skills (and she felt pretty chuffed when she easily replied in perfect English), they discussed her thorough plans of which countries to travel to first (including airfare and hotels which Y/N also remembered) and by the time the bell rang, Y/N couldn’t suppress the feeling of disappointment that their time together had ended. 

Sugawara offered to walk her to class but her disappointment had manifested itself into a reminder of her loner status. She half-heartedly refused but agreed hesitantly when he made her promise to hang out with him at lunch. The two departed from the bench, Sugawara snuck a final glance at Y/N as she rounded the corner of the school. 

Although the incident at the restaurant yesterday left him embarrassed for Kageyama and her, he was determined to make it up by extending his friendship to her. He truly did take pity on her, even if he didn’t know her that well. Although he did know who she was from previous years, she didn’t know him. Maybe she did know him but because she’s quiet, she just never wanted to talk to him- 

When his thoughts became wilder, he took in a deep breath. It’ll be okay, they’ve only just properly met. It will take time to forge a friendship with Y/N but he was truly willing to put in the effort. As he entered the school building, he couldn’t ignore the small flicker of joy in the middle of his chest.

———

_“Y/N! I know you’re not doing anything right now so come to my volleyball practice!” The doors to the classroom slammed open to reveal a very demanding Sugawara. _

_Luckily, Y/N had finished cleaning her empty classroom. There was no one to see the embarrassment on her face at being ordered around. “Wait but we’ve just met-”_

_Like a robotic soldier, he marched over and seized her wrist. “No excuses! Come along.” With that, he yanked her away from the desk, she barely had time to grab her book bag. He was much stronger than her, so he was constantly thwarting her attempts to break free as he dragged her down the corridor. Fortunately, the school was relatively empty because to the average passerby, it would look like Sugawara was kidnapping a poor girl. Actually, to an extent he was. Together, with his hand firmly grasped around hers, they made their way through the corridors, down the stairs and to his volleyball practice. _

That’s how Y/N ended up standing in front of a group of ten boys, in the middle of the gym (which reeked of sweat and _testosterone_) after school. 

Sugawara (bless his soul) took the liberty to introduce Y/N to the group. To say it was awkward was an understatement, especially when he called “Kageyama” over (who Y/N couldn’t bring herself to call him anything other than ‘blue-eyes’). However, most of them recognised her and apologised for the incidents yesterday (except this one stupid blonde-haired beanpole who laughed it off). The middle-school kid, also known as Hinata, began rapidly bowing and apologising. Even though he did call Y/N the dreadful L word, Y/N had to plead with him to stop. 

After the introductions, their volleyball practice went on without much disruption. Y/N sat to the side watching keenly, snickering when Kageyama and Hinata started bickering (although she soon found that Hinata had superhuman jumping abilities) and giving small bits of praise to Sugawara occasionally. 

What she didn’t notice was the multiple glances from the other boys that were thrown her way (aside from Sugawara, who was constantly keeping an eye on her). She did make eye contact with Hinata at one point, he didn’t hold it for very long and unfortunately, it resulted in him receiving a ball with his forehead. 

By the end of practice (and after making sure Hinata didn’t have a concussion), Y/N could bring herself to make small talk with some of the team. While she made rounds, handing out water bottles alongside another girl (who looked _STUNNING_, the whole time Y/N was silently fawning over her beauty), she tried her best to get to know some of the players. 

While some were very energetic in making conversation with her (namely Hinata, who much like Sugawara, asked her a plethora of questions), others were more… _reserved_. By that, she meant blue-eyes, Kageyama-kun. In particular, Sugawara had warned her that Kageyama was a bit of a jerk but she only truly realised the gravity of that statement when he ignored her. Not even a glance before he went back to bouncing that stupid volleyball of his. Y/N briefly reconsidered if whether being a loner was actually all that bad.

After the final team meeting had dispersed, her thoughts were eased when Sugawara came to stand beside her. “Hey, I’m sorry,” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “Even if I only met you today, I shouldn’t have forced you to come to our practice.”

Y/N shrugged, “I had fun but now I gotta remember all these names.” She tugged at her jacket’s zipper while Sugawara laughed. That wasn’t what she actually wanted to say, instead, she wanted to thank Sugawara. Although they met through him taking pity on her, she’d had the first enjoyable day at school in a while. “I - uh… Sugawara-san?”

Sugawara turned his head to her. 

“Um…” Y/N could feel a familiar warmth creeping up her neck, “I just wanted to say… thank you.” He blinked a couple of times, his expression unreadable. “For hanging out with me this morning…” The last part was so quiet, Sugawara had to lean in closer just to hear it. Even though her reply was short and quiet, the sincerity of the words made Sugawara’s heart soar. 

He gave her hair a good ruffle, trying to ignore the rapid pounding of his heart. “You’re very sweet Y/N-chan.” He paused to think for a second, “Hey, tell you what,” Taking a step back from her and placed his hands on the sides of his hips, “Are you free tomorrow after school?”

Y/N nodded before thinking, hopefully, this was a good idea. 

He clasped his hands together, “Perfect! You’re coming to a practice match with me.”

The thought of travelling to another school quickly piqued Y/N’s curiosity. “Oh? Where is it?”

“Aoba Johsai.”

Y/N’s throat went dry, _‘Well shit.’_.

_Prompt: Tomorrow will be wonderful because…_

_I get to see Oikawa-kun! But knowing him, he’ll probably also stir up some drama tomorrow. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so done with 2020 already


	4. The Practice Match

“And we’re done!” Mai threw down her mop and collapsed into a nearby chair. “I can’t feel my legs...” 

_ ‘Oh god, I’m glad the dinner rush is over.’ _ Y/N pressed her cheek to the cold marble countertop. The worst thing of owning a restaurant which also doubles as your house is the fact that you automatically become a free employee. But on the other hand, you also get a bunch of free food, so Y/N could bear it. Still, it was a wonder how Y/N managed to split her time between working and studying. 

The chair beside her creaked while a hand planted itself amongst her H/C hair. Moments like this occasionally occurred after the restaurant’s closing hours, the two would both sit silently together while Mai pet Y/N’s head. Yes, Mai was one of the restaurant’s employees and Y/N was the owner’s daughter, naturally, there should be a respectful distance between them. But sometimes, Y/N couldn’t help but view her as an older sister and from the way Mai acted, she probably also saw Y/N in a similar light. 

Her tired voice drifted over to Y/N, “What’s been happening at school, Y/N-chi? Boys? Drama?”

For a moment, Y/N debated whether telling Mai about Sugawara was a good idea. Mai tended to overreact when Y/N brought up this kind of thing but it was sweet of her to care deeply about Y/N. Although, Mai would probably mention it to her father and he would demand more information out of Y/N.

But Mai was in university, she’s spoken to guys before and she’s certainly gone out with guys (both romantically and platonically). It was worth a shot, maybe Y/N would receive some good advice from her. 

She told Mai about Sugawara’s invitation and as soon as she mentioned his name, the hand that was once in her hair slammed down on the counter. “A guy?! Is this a date?” 

Y/N choked on air. Alright, well Mai just overlooked the most important details like that it was _ a practice match _and they were going with _other people _. “Shut up! Dad’s gonna-”

_“Who mentioned the word ‘date’?!” _

Y/N threw up her hands in defeat. A surge of annoyance pulsed through her as she heard heavy footsteps head towards the counter. How lovely, it seems that everyone in the building had to know what Y/N was up to. Maybe she should go tell the neighbours too, just to really drive the point home. Behind her was an over-excited Mai hurriedly explaining the situation to her father, which although she couldn’t see, was probably gaping back and forth between the two girls.

“I already decided I’m not gonna go, so please drop it.” Y/N bluntly stated. Oh, that probably burst one of Mai’s blood vessels. The auburn-haired girl pounded her fists on the counter, hard enough to possibly leave a dent, listing reasons why Y/N was going to miss out on _ ‘the pinnacle of your youth!’ _. 

“L/N Y/N.” Y/N barely kept herself from rolling her eyes at the sound of her father’s intimidating voice because unfortunately for her, she never could combat him when he used it. She begrudgingly met his eyes, “You better be at that volleyball match supporting your friend, even if I have to physically drive you there.” But something had changed in his usual my-word-is-final voice, it wasn’t intimidating but full of… pride? 

She soon pushed the thought out of her mind when Mai crept up behind her. “Y/N, you hardly ever go out with friends!” She didn’t need to be reminded, thanks Mai, “It’d be a nice change of pace, don’t you think?”

\------

_‘A nice change of pace, she said.’ _

_‘A **nice** change of pace, she said.’ _

_‘A **nice** change of **paCE, SHE SAI-**’ _

“Y/N-senpai, you look scary!” Fluffy orange-hair popped into the corner of her twitching eye. Oh right, Hinata had asked to sit with her on the ride to Aoba Johsai. She made a mental reminder not to sit at the back of the stuffy bus where she was being jostled and tossed around like a ragdoll. “Are you angry?”

Y/N quickly shook her head, for people often misread her demeanour. “No no, I was just feeling a bit lightheaded from how stuffy it is back here.”

Hinata nodded thoughtfully, “Maybe that’s why I’ve been feeling sick...”

Alarm bells instantly went off in Y/N’s head. Did Hinata have motion sickness? She’s lucky that she doesn’t have it but she’s known people (specifically Mai) who have had to use motion sickness patches, lollipops, wristbands… everything and anything to prevent it. But when they said they felt sick, you had to take action fast or it wouldn’t be pretty... “Do you need water? A plastic bag? How do you feel right now?” 

Seeing Y/N on guard, Hinata threw up his hands in defence. “I-I’m okay Y/N-senpai, please don’t worry about me!” Unconvinced, Y/N pressed her hand to his forehead, checking for a fever, causing his cheeks to explode in red, “I-It might just be nerves for the match...”

“Oh nerves?” Tanaka peeked over Hinata’s shoulder, “Listen up! Your senpai is here to teach you the art of getting rid of nerves!”

While Tanaka began making vigorous chopping motions to Hinata, Y/N’s eyes wandered around the bus. Nothing was particularly out of the ordinary (other than Daichi yelling at Tanaka to shut up), Sugawara was leaning over the armrest to talk to Ennoshita, Yamaguchi seemed to be reading something and Kageyama…

Was staring at her with steely blue eyes. 

An unexplainable shudder passed through her (which hopefully Kageyama didn’t notice). Ever since the truck incident, Y/N had always noticed that Kageyama’s eyes were far more intense than her peers. They didn’t make eye contact often but on the rare occasion they did, it always felt like Y/N was being pressed up against an invisible wall, suffocated.

The eyes released Y/N just as quickly as they captured her, leaving her in a sort of daze. The pressure of Kageyama’s stare had left her starstruck. Although, she’d be lying if she said it annoyed her. 

“Y/N-chan, did you hear?” A finger poked itself into Y/N’s hip, forcing her to try to stifle a gasp. 

“E-eh? What?” Y/N shook her head, refocusing her attention on her small friend. Hinata’s concerned brown eyes lingered on her for a moment before reverting to their energetic nature.

“There’s a Great King at this school, one that’s even greater than Bakeyama!” Hinata pumped his fist in the air, whether he was purely excited or pretending to punch the “Great King”, Y/N couldn’t tell. “And I’m going to defeat him!”

Tanaka immediately began clapping from behind with Y/N following suit. “What a bold statement!” He said, sounding like he was praising his son. “I like your style, beating up the Great King!”. Oh, poor Hinata’s eyes instantly bulged. He rapidly began disputing Tanaka (because he _ wasn’t _ beating anyone up today), until Y/N stopped them with her laughter. The sound left them staring in amazement at her, making Y/N feel slightly self-conscious about her laugh. 

But unaware to Y/N’s discomfort, Hinata regained his senses and spoke up, his voice omitting innocence, “Y/N-chan, what _are _ your interests?”

Well, that caught her off-guard. Hinata did have a habit of suddenly changing the subject. “Uhm, I’d like to go travelling around the world after school.” He leaned forward, pressing her to go on, “I think I’d just like to get out of Miyagi more than anything.”

Hinata leaned his head back against the headrest, “So, you want to leave Miyagi to follow your passion...” A confused expression crossed his face, “But have you ever been outside of Miyagi?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen most of Japan when I was younger.” She shrugged, “We travelled around a fair bit. But now, I’m getting bored of living here.”

His brown eyes slowly dispersed themselves of their previous confusion and instead replaced themselves with a strange realisation. He slowly drew his face closer to hers, eyes unwavering (although she was still looking down on him because he’s so small). “W-well! I’ll be the first to show you somewhere totally new!” He declared as if he was challenging Y/N.

His words repeated themselves in her head. _Him _ show _her _ something new? She wanted to throw back her head and laugh! Bless his innocence. Y/N shook her head with a small smile played across her features, if Hinata was willing to challenge himself like that then Y/N would gladly support him. “I’d like to see you try, Hinata-kun.”

\------

Y/N stuck close to the wall, rubbing circles on Hinata’s back as they entered the gym. Soon after his little declaration, he had immediately slapped a hand across his mouth causing Y/N and Tanaka to begin panicking. Despite his assurance that he wouldn’t be sick on the bus…it wasn’t hard to guess what soon happened. Y/N had barely pulled away before Tanaka started shrieking to pull over the bus. 

The insides of Aoba Johsai’s gym was no different from Karasuno’s, besides the white and turquoise uniforms that dotted the court. Each one of the opposing school’s players was much taller than Y/N, which meant she couldn’t help but notice their well-toned calves. Opposite to Y/N’s drooling, Hinata had hunched over with _ two _ hands across his mouth. He turned and fled to the bathroom, promising Y/N that he’ll be back before the match. She watched the gym doors swing closed, wondering whether he really would return in time. 

“That dumbass is going to drag the team down with his nerves.” Kageyama’s cold eyes threatened to burn holes into the doors. “He’d better recover fast or I’ll spike a ball into his face.”

Y/N peered at the boy appearing behind her, was he talking to himself or her? Y/N guessed it was better to answer even if he wasn’t talking to her, “I can understand why he’s nervous, this _ is _ a powerhouse school.” His intense stare slid over to her, she struggled to stay still under it. “Wouldn’t you be nervous too, Kageyama-kun?” 

His reaction was unexpected. The usual steely demeanour he had worked so hard to create quickly melted into a stuttering, bashful mess. It was so sudden, Y/N had to bite her lip to keep her from straight-up laughing in his face. He toyed with the lining of his shorts while his eyes darted around the gym like suddenly _everything _ became far more interesting. “N-no, of course not, idiot.” He stormed off to the rest of the team, leaving Y/N with a confused smile. 

She made note of the fact that he _was _ talking to her, and this was the first time the two managed to properly converse with one another.

Maybe that explained the small brightness that opened up in her chest.

Not long after, Hinata burst through the gym doors, doubly even more excited and even _more _ nervous. The group went through their various warm-up stretches and drills but eventually, a sharp whistle signalled the beginning of the match.

The team lined up, said their thanks to each other and got into formation. Surprisingly, Sugawara was put off to the side. Y/N wanted to question him but a loud yelp drew her attention back to the court. Of course, she looked just in time to see Hinata crash into Daichi. This chaotic streak only continued, the number of times Y/N cringed at his klutzy mistakes would be enough to make a whole cringe compilation. Especially when he hit Kageyama in the back of the head, Y/N felt like getting up and leaving the gym altogether. 

Averting her eyes from Kageyama yelling at Hinata (again), she found herself examining Aoba Johsai’s team for the first time. Although Oikawa wasn’t there (he’d told her he hurt his knee recently), Iwaizumi was. She’d met the quiet yet intimidating guy during one of Oikawa’s visits to the restaurant. While she first perceived him as Oikawa’s introverted counterpart, she came to realise that he acted as Oikawa’s keeper. Whether it was prying him away from small crowds of fans or helping him recover when he hit a rough patch, Iwaizumi was always there to beat some sense into his friend (sometimes literally). 

The said boy somehow felt her eyes on his back, he turned and gave her a small wave. Unfortunately for him, after Y/N waved back, his teammates immediately pounced on him, demanding to know who she was. Y/N began to settle back down, leaving Iwaizumi to deal with his teammates when there was a light tap on her shoulder. 

Sugawara crouched beside her, eyes still fixed on the game, “I didn’t know you’re friends with Iwaizumi.”. She was slightly taken aback, Sugawara must’ve been watching closely to notice that tiny interaction. 

Nevertheless, Y/N fessed up, “Yeah, I know him. We’re not very close though.” Now it was Sugawara’s turn to be surprised, his eyes finally left the match and set themselves on her.

He paused for a moment, taking in her words, “Regardless of whether or not you’re close, you’re still sort of friends… right?” 

“I suppose.” Came her flat answer.

Sugawara wrapped an arm around her shoulders, “But, we’re friends too. Aren’t we Y/N-chan?” replied his singsong voice. 

Giving in to his charm, she playfully rolled her eyes and added a joking ring to her response, “I _suppose _ we are Sugawara-kun.” He pretended to pout but didn’t say anymore.

The two stayed like that for a while, watching the rallies carry on with Sugawara occasionally commentating using his volleyball jargon. He was about to turn to Y/N again when a choir of (mostly female) squeals erupted from the balcony. The H/C-haired girl didn’t need to turn around to know who had entered the gym (and even you readers can probably guess who this is). Iwaizumi sent a vapid eye-roll her way which she returned with silently mouthing _‘Oh no.’ _. 

But there was a small hint of truth within the two words. Y/N often found herself worrying about their friendship, more than she knew she should whenever he was around. When she first met him, she didn’t expect him to be so popular amongst his school. Nowadays, she felt like she was… dragging him down. And it wasn’t because Oikawa had his group of fangirls. Maybe it was her insecurity talking but she often questioned the authenticity of their friendship. Would he leave her for the next interesting girl he met on the internet? This idea didn’t surprise her but simultaneously also scared her. 

“Y/N-chaaaan!” Oh, she was so busy overthinking that she didn’t hear his incoming steps. Ignoring the disheartened cries from the stands, she let her head fall back to the person standing behind her. 

“So, you’ve finally decided to make your appearance, Oikawa-kun.”

His brown eyes crinkled with a smile, “Actually, I’m more surprised that you’re here Y/N-chan.” His eyes raked through the Karasuno members standing off to the side, “I thought you weren’t going to associate yourself with Tobio-chan’s group.”

_‘Well… I did say I wouldn’t start drama with him.’ _Y/N thought, _‘But that doesn’t mean I’m banned from talking to the rest of the volleyball club.’ _

Of course, Oikawa could never stay around for long. When his coach signalled him over, he promptly turned away and briefly mentioned _‘meeting up later.’ _ before leaving the girl to her own devices. As he grew further and further, she made sure no one was looking before sticking her tongue at his back, _‘Rude.’ _

She didn’t notice Sugawara’s dark scowl from beside her. 

Or the other two sets of eyes that witnessed the whole interaction.

\------

Once the match had finished, Y/N stood in front of the school gates shaking the pins and needles out of her leg. She did offer to help pack up the nets but everyone seemed to have it covered so, feeling awkward without anything to do, she waited for her team to come outside.

Speaking of the team, Karasuno had beat Aoba Johsai, much to everyone’s surprise. Although, Y/N suspected they only won due to Oikawa’s previous absence. Of course, she wouldn’t straight up say that to them.

As the last of the buzzing static disappeared from her leg, she sighed in relief, _‘I gotta remember that whenever I go to a volleyball match, I should walk around during the court change.’. _

“Oh? Is little Y/N-chan waiting for _meeeee~? _” 

There it was, that dreamy voice which so many girls fell for, heading to where Y/N stood. “I didn’t know Aoba Johsai’s trash cans are able to talk.” She rolled her eyes over to him, knowing her reply would evoke some kind of reaction. 

He laid a hand over his heart in shock, “Y/N-chan, you’re so mean!”. The boy summoned up his most convincing puppy dog eyes and directed it to her, “And I thought we were friends…”

She knew that Oikawa was merely putting up a facade but the way his voice softened so quickly made Y/N think twice. He’s good at pulling her heartstrings. “W-we are! Seriously Oikawa-kun, stop giving me those eyes...”

Oikawa now stood with crossed arms, his signature pout played across his face. She wanted to laugh at herself for giving in so quickly, but he spoke before she could. “Is that why you joined the volleyball team?”

Y/N shifted on her feet. She didn’t join the volleyball team per se, she just hung out with them. And anyway, she didn’t want to talk about volleyball with him specifically because surely, he’d express his distaste for Karasuno. He’d then bring up Kageyama and _then _ he’d go on a full rant… “I didn’t join them… it just kinda happened.” He tilted his head in confusion, “We just sort of connected and… well, I’m now here.” She gestured her hands at the school. 

“You just, connected?” Oikawa repeated, much quieter. She nodded, trying to find meaning in his frown lines and the small bite of his lip. Was it just her overthinking again? She’d bet it was because as she already knew, Oikawa was sometimes all over the place with his emotions. 

The silence loomed over them until Y/N finally laid a hand on his shoulder, “Oikawa, yes we’re friends but I’m certainly not going to ditch you for them anytime soon.” That was a hard sentence to say considering Oikawa could certainly ditch her at any moment. God, when she goes travelling, she is _definitely _ going to leave her lack of self-confidence in Miyagi. Mustering up her most genuine smile, she switched topics to try to wipe Oikawa’s frown off of him, “You were amazing in the match today. Karasuno struggled against your serves especially.”

As expected, Oikawa seemed to react immediately to this. He chuckled and flicked his chocolate locks back, creating a dazzling silhouette in Y/N’s eyes. “Right? My serves were totally on point today!” 

Y/N shielded herself from the blinding light he exerted, “Y-yeah, they were pretty good...”. Oops, she should’ve remembered that whenever Y/N slightly complimented Oikawa, his ego would rapidly inflate.

“OI! WHAT’RE YOU DOING WITH **OUR** Y/N.”

Y/N’s arm was frantically yanked back to reveal Tanaka’s grinding teeth and Hinata’s meek glare. Further back stood the rest of the Karasuno volleyball team, who were all looking gobsmacked at the group. 

“Ah, the crows finally decide to show up.” Oikawa said in his irritating we-would’ve-crushed-you-if-it-was-an-official-match voice. “Great job today, you’ve really improved.” From the way he stressed his words, Y/N didn’t know whether he was mocking the whole team or one specific blue-eyed individual.

Either way, it pissed Tanaka off, “You tryin’ to start somethin’ punk?” He stepped closer to Oikawa, sneering in delight that a fight might break out. “Harassing our girl and then taunting us? You’re asking for it.”

It must’ve thrown Tanaka off when Oikawa laughed at him because he visibly jerked back. “Harassed? You crows are so belligerent outside of the court.” He waved his hand collectively towards the team, “Speaking of volleyball, you’ve really ought to improve your receives.” 

Once he mentioned the slightest bit of volleyball jargon, Y/N began zoning out. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about Oikawa’s passion but when he spoke about the specific intricacies of volleyball, it usually went over Y/N’s head. The best she could reply, whenever he went on a volleyball rant, was with a nod and a smile. She fiddled with her zipper until she felt a small tug on the sleeve. Hinata balanced on his tiptoes to whisper into Y/N’s ear, “Did the ‘Grand King’ leave you alone? He didn’t do anything to you right?” 

Her shoulders shook with a giggle at Hinata’s pure nature, “No, Hinata. The ‘Grand King’ didn’t do anything to me.” 

Oikawa’s taunting halted, he looked over at the smiling girl, “Y/N, didn’t you tell them about me?” An unreadable emotion laced amongst his voice. 

On cue, everyone in his vicinity seemed to freeze up for a second. Y/N could practically hear them all thinking, _‘Is there something going on between them?’ _. From the way Sugawara looked at her, his face was practically screamed, _‘You better tell me what’s going on or I’m cancelling my friendship proposition.’ _

However, this intensity was soon dispersed by Oikawa’s exhausted sigh, “Ah, well whatever. I’ll be off now crows,” Y/N gulped hard, Oikawa seemed to move on from this very quickly. She made a mental note to send him a check-up message later tonight. “See you later Y/N-chan.”. Then, as his usual parting gift, he lightly pinched her cheek.

“Begone Oikawa-demon!” She said, swatting his hands away. He blew her an exaggerated kiss, saying another taunting goodbye to the team. 

Once he was out of earshot, without warning, a storm of questions flooded Y/N’s senses (which he definitely would’ve been able to hear).

_‘Since when were you friends with Oikawa-san?!’ _

_‘What’d he say about our team?’ _

_‘Are you okay Y/N-chan? He looked like he was scaring you!’ _

“Everyone quiet! Get on the bus!” Like trained dogs, the surrounding boys hesitantly glanced back at Daichi and backed away from Y/N before heading to the bus. As Daichi passed her, he raised his hand in apology.

She turned in the direction to follow the rest of the team when once again, her shoulder was pulled back. What was with people and pulling her arms and shoulders? 

Kageyama’s lip trembled. His hand had decided to move on its own, which was odd considering his movement of his were always so calculated. Now, his brain was scrambling to catch up. “L-L/N-senpai...” That was strange. Whenever Kageyama spoke, he had this rough and intimidating edge to this voice. But at that moment, he spoke softly, like _ really _ softly. 

“O-oh, Kageyama.” Y/N stuttered out, “What’s up?” 

He stared at her for a second, his eyes glazing over hinting that he might’ve already forgotten what he was about to say. Y/N started to ask if he was okay when he suddenly shook his head, slapping a hand on his forehead. “I...uh...”, his shoulders raised as he took in a deep breath, “I-I was just wondering… are you and Oikawa-senpai f-friends?”

Surprisingly, laughter bubbled out of her lips. The situation wasn’t very funny in itself but she found Kageyama’s uncharacteristic behaviour just so humorous that she couldn’t stop herself. She refocused herself on Kageyama, quelling her last giggles, “Sorry, sorry.” Kageyama did _not _ look amused, he was looking at the ground with the tips of his ears dipped in red and a hand scratching his neck. “Yeah, I _guess _ Oikawa and I are friends.” She said jokingly. 

Kageyama (the poor boy) tilted his head. “Wait, are you friends or not?” came his now very confused voice. Y/N pressed her lips into a straight line, she didn’t realise that Kageyama was dense when it came to social interaction. It was an interesting contrast to his godly volleyball skills. 

_‘Next time, never use sarcasm when Kageyama’s around.’ _

She began to explain but his eyes hardened themselves back into his steely glare, “Actually, don’t worry about it. It was a stupid question.” He readjusted his bag before storming past Y/N, his short-tempered personality back in full swing. In passing, he briefly mentioned something like ‘the others are waiting for us.’.

Y/N, not wanting to hold back the team, began to follow. She continued to replay the short conversation over and over, looking for what she said wrong. Did her sarcasm set him off? Kageyama didn’t seem like the moody type (unlike his brown-haired upperclassman) - although Y/N has only ever seen his sullen, egotistical side. 

Hinata called out to her as she stepped back onto the bus. When she turned to look at him, she noticed Kageyama was now purposely (and very intensely) staring out the window, only occasionally sneaking glances at her. 

Y/N let her shoulders sag, she was too tired for this. She collapsed into the bus seat, forgetting about formalities and rested her head on Hinata’s shoulder. The boy tensed up but didn’t shrug her off, he seemed to sense Y/N’s exhausted state and quietly let her rest. Soon enough, the bus began to shift and Aoba Johsai started rolling out of sight. 

\------

Her clock slowly flipped itself to reveal another hour had passed since she came home. A pile of finished homework sat comfortably to the right side of her desk and on the other side, her cream book slid into its place. 

Y/N flipped the cover of her book closed. Wow, doing nothing had been surprisingly draining. It sure had been a long day for her, keeping up with Hinata’s energy and fumbling through conversation with Kageyama. She could see why the two boys fitted like puzzle pieces together. Hinata’s bright personality drew out the best of Kageyama’s skills. But Kageyama was the only one able to control and utilise Hinata. 

She twirled a mechanical pencil between her fingers. It was weird to think this all started from a chance encounter with Sugawara. He was so persistent to forge something between them, now it landed her as a _kind-of-sort-of member of the volleyball club. _ Still, it made her question _why _ Sugawara had been so willing in the first place. It seemed odd that he wanted to extend a hand in friendship to practically a stranger. 

Y/N squeezed her eyes shut, no way was she going to let her questioning from Oikawa’s friendship seep into Sugawara’s. She pushed back her rolling chair and prepared to go to bed, determined to have another good day tomorrow. 

Well, she _thought _ that was the end of her day.

The knock at her door pierced the silence of her room. 

_Prompt: What are you saving for? _

_I’m saving my money so I can travel the world someday. It’s hard to do though ‘cause I like to buy a lot of useless things. Oh! Today I also went to one of Karasuno’s practice games. It was an interesting day, to say the least. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> important stuff:
> 
> HAIKYUU SEASON 4 IS OUTTTT BUT HAVE Y'ALL READ THE MANGA OMF HOW ARE MY HAIKYUU READERS FEELING RN
> 
> also, i'm returning to the hellscape of school this coming week so chapters won't be coming as often but i'll definitely try my hardest to push them out
> 
> finally, i'm taking down the other haikyuu story because honestly, i don't really have it fully planned out and i don't want to continue something i have no idea on what i'm doing until i fully think it through etc... 
> 
> as always, thank you for reading!


	5. The Departure

Her hand returned to her side as the headlights pulled out of sight, clunking and sputtering up the hill. 

Y/N’s only come to realise that life is constantly changing. Building and destroying, removing the old and bringing in the new. This endless cycle, no matter how exhausting, will never end. 

And now, life has decided to take away Y/N’s not-related-by-blood older sister. In a few hours, she’d be soaring away, headed to some foreign country. Somewhere no one would recognise her, where she could become someone different. A fresh start.

God, Y/N was jealous.

She gripped the edge of her sleeves, this was _so _unfair. She’d kill for a three year trip to London, even if she’d also have to study nursing. Mai should’ve taken her, regardless of whether Y/N was on the plane or in the suitcase. Y/N made a mental note to beg Mai when she next got the chance. 

_‘When I next see her...’ _Y/N ran her eyes over the empty dining room. The thought had unexpectedly opened up a small chasm in her heart. Mai had always been by her side. Whether it was tutoring her in math or calming an upset customer, for most of Y/N’s life, Mai had her back. 

She gulped, pushing down the rising pressure at the back of her throat. The silence of the restaurant was unnatural for Y/N, Mai would usually call her downstairs for dinner by now. She’d step into the kitchen, letting whatever Mai cooked overwhelm and entice her senses. And then, opening her eyes… she _wouldn’t _see a cheap noodle cup sitting on the counter. 

Y/N sighed, a short chime of a bell reminding her of the boiled water. Murky darkness swirled in her stomach as she poured the steaming water into the cup, sending a nauseous pulse to her stomach. 

Mai was moving on to the next chapter of her life.

And Y/N?

Well, she made a couple of friends. That was something, right?

She looked down into the caramel water, the murky darkness dissipating into the ever-growing chasm. It wasn’t loneliness plaguing her insides nor sadness. Y/N knew this feeling all too well, the feeling of being a bystander to other’s lives as they moved onwards. The feeling of being left behind. 

_‘It’s just like second year all over again.’ _She pushed the noodles away from her, the pungent chicken seasoning making her tongue turn to sandpaper. Instead, she turned to the pantry in search of something that she could survive on for the rest of the night. Pulling out a bag of chips, she dunked her hand in and stuffed its contents into her mouth. It’d never equate to Mai’s homemade meals but right now, it was all she had. 

\------

Light droplets sprinkled themselves on the sidewalk and gently fell onto Y/N’s outstretched palm. The rain never bothered Y/N. If anything, the cold water felt refreshing on her skin and she liked how the rain glistened in her hair, like small fairy lights. She also enjoyed the tranquillity it brought with it. Many students had already scurried into the school, huddled under their black umbrellas, leaving Y/N to enjoy the last stretch of her walk without their mindless chatter. 

_‘I wonder if it’s raining in London too...’ _Y/N pulled her scarf tighter around her, trying to keep last night’s feelings at bay. 

“Feeling cold, Y/N-chan?”

She replied with a startled gasp, sending her stumbling backwards into the streetlight. Sugawara tilted his head, an amused smile played upon his lips. “Oops~”

Y/N suddenly regretted becoming friends with him.

She turned her head from him, hiding her face behind a veil of hair. His cheerfulness was too overpowering for this early in the morning. “Good morning, Sugawara-kun.” She mumbled into her scarf. 

Then came a stretching silence, something that made Y/N writhe in discomfort. Sugawara gazed at her, an unreadable emotion in his eyes. Her feet began to pull away from the situation, pretending like nothing ever happened.

A firm hand landed on her forearm, halting her escape attempt. “I’m sorry if I scared you before...” When she didn’t respond, he stepped beside her, lowering his eyes to meet hers. “Is everything okay? You look very… worried.”

Y/N usually wasn’t one to let her problems spill so easily. She’d tell him her interests but she certainly didn’t want to burden him with her meaningless feelings and thoughts. She was a steel wall, one that wouldn’t let anything slip by.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay, you seemed more upbeat yesterday.”

_Nope. _She wasn’t going to say anything. _‘Focus on the rain, Y/N.’_

“As friends, it’s my duty to be there for you when you have problems.”

Okay, maybe Y/N _liked _to think that she was a steel wall. 

“Y/N, you can talk to me about anything. Just know that, okay?”

She could’ve left it there, he wasn’t going to push any more (which she was grateful for). But the way his voice was so sincere forced Y/N to say something. 

Dropping her poker face, she spoke in the loudest-whisper possible, “I said I want to go travelling after high school but...” she fumbled with the end of her scarf, looking for the right words, “It’s more like I want to disappear from this place.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly felt sorry for Sugawara. No context, no idea what’s bothering her and sprung on him so suddenly… poor guy. She opened her mouth to apologise but Sugawara already started, “But so many people would miss you if you go.” Including himself, but he didn’t mention it.

Y/N half-heartedly shrugged, “I guess.” It’s not like she had many friends left, other than her acquaintances on the volleyball team. Maybe her father would miss her? But he’s always been supportive of her passion. Sugawara might miss her, but she wouldn’t cut off all contact with him. He’d been so nice to her, even if he was a little overbearing. A headache formed around her forehead, something that always happened when she began to overthink. 

Sugawara started to say something else but it was Y/N’s turn to cut him off, “Can we talk about this later? It’s getting a bit overwhelming.”

Sugawara nodded but his eyes betrayed his outer smile. He was still thinking about what she said. He tilted his head slightly, “Sure, whenever you’re comfortable.”. Abruptly, he flinched back, his eyes blinking rapidly. Then, he let out a small giggle, something that made Y/N’s heart decide to beat a little harder. “Rain just fell into my eye.” 

Y/N couldn’t help the small _pfft _that escaped her lips. Tugging on his arm, she led him up the hill, “C’mon, let’s get out of the rain.”. She looked up at the foreboding clouds, patches of sunlight penetrating their scary facade. The rain may loom over them now but soon, it’ll disappear. 

\------

Her bed let out a soft squeak as a book bag spilled across its cover. Y/N collapsed in her chair, ignoring the thump of books sliding onto the floor. 

She’d just gotten back from another round of ‘letting-Sugawara-drag-her-to-his-volleyball-practice’ and although she didn’t exert any energy, she was knackered. Too tired to complete any homework, she stared up at the ceiling, zoning out into oblivion.

His volleyball practice was always filled with controlled chaos. Nishinoya rolled around shouting obscure phrases, Tanaka often stripped down to his shorts (leaving Sugawara to desperately shield Y/N’s innocent eyes) and Daichi seemed to constantly be yelling at them to shut up. Hinata and Kageyama often bickered with each other, sometimes getting physical. 

But on-court, Nishinoya and Tanaka began to focus on the ball more, letting Daichi’s voice rest for a bit. Even Sugawara was caught up in perfecting his tosses to the others. Then there was Hinata and Kageyama, who exploited the ball similarly to a gun and its bullet.

Even by the end of practice, Y/N still hadn’t grown used to the sheer speed and intensity of their attack. The ball seemed to blur out of existence and once it reappeared, there was no use chasing it down. A terrifying attack to any opposing team. 

And even though their attack seemed impenetrable, they were still hellbent on improving, pushing their limits. 

It’d be wrong to say they were the only ones intent on improving themselves. Each member of the team was willing to throw themselves after a hundred stray volleyballs to just prove themselves worthy of the starting lineup. 

Y/N traced the title of her cream book. It wasn’t just Mai, everyone was rapidly moving forward in life. 

Everyone except her. 

A small _buzz _vibrated against her hip. _‘Odd, I haven’t received a text from anyone in a while.’ _The phone’s screen brightened to reveal a familiar name staring back at her.

_‘Sugawara? What does he want?’ _She unlocked the phone, her head beginning to form theories on the message’s contents. Most likely it was asking for help with homework, her friends used to send her questions a lot. Or maybe he was asking her to attend another practice match with him. 

_‘Hey, I was thinking about what you said today. There’s a local festival tomorrow in my neighbourhood, you should join me.’_

A few (gruellingly long) seconds later, her phone buzzed again.

_‘It’ll be refreshing to think about something other than school and.. y’know...’_

She smiled down at her phone as if he was there, glad that someone acknowledged her unimportant problem. But, Sugawara was a naturally kind person, he cared for his team members and classmates. To him, Y/N was probably just another friend. The thought didn’t surprise her at all. 

Maybe she was a bit of a hypocrite, wanting Mai to stay but also wanting to disappear.

It’d take a while, but Y/N knew that deep down, that _her _next chapter would be somewhere totally different. She’d no longer be a bystander to her peer’s lives because she’d be surrounded by a whole new group of people, in somewhere _other _than Japan and _not _attending Karasuno High School. 

Another buzz of her mobile brought her back from her fantasy. She cast it an annoyed glance only to realise she hadn’t replied to Sugawara. The end of high school was a while away and if she was going to go abroad, she’d want to have at least _some _good memories of when she lived here. Bringing up the message, she smiled to herself, _‘I guess my plans will have to wait for a second, I’ve got a festival to go to.’_

_Prompt: Is anything worrying you?_

_A lot that I don’t feel like writing down here but, just to get it off my chest, I don’t want to be an observer anymore. I’m going to buckle down and earn more so that I can easily get a one-way ticket to somewhere, anywhere._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fat f for me because i just realised i am the biggest cretin in existence


End file.
